Review: Bridesmaids by Jane Costello

With less than an hour to go before her best friend, Grace, is to walk down the aisle, Evie is attempting to fulfil her most important bridesmaid role: to deposit the bride at the start-line at the appointed time. But with a bride famed for her chaotic sense of time, and the bride's daughter busy mashing Molton Brown into the expensive hotel carpet, minus underwear, the odds are stacked against her . . .

At least she has her new 'chicken fillet' boob-enhancers to make her feel special. That is, until these are spotted poking over the top of her dress. So spotted by Jack - the most ruggedly attractive man Evie has ever laid eyes on.

Evie is twenty-seven; a sparkly, down-to-earth journalist. She has never been in love and has started to fret that she never will be. Small wonder, then, that the prospect of being bridesmaid at no less than three impending weddings is one that fills her with trepidation.
Things get worse when Evie learns that Jack is her friend Valentina's date. Valentina is beautiful, shallow and self-obsessed. Her dates tend to be mirror-images. Which can mean only one thing: Jack can't possibly be as good as he seems. But as they sit together talking late into the night, Evie finds herself yearning to believe he's all real.

Review: I really really want to read Jane Costello's new novel The Wish list but I knew that I had  couple of her previous novels sitting on my bookshelf unread, so last weekend I decided to have a bit of a Jane Costello Marathon BEFORE purchasing her new book. This is number two in my marathon, I am beginning to realise what a fabulously funny author Jane Costello is. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her other novels so that I can have reviewed the full set!

This is one of those kind of novels where you are dropped into the storyline straight away, without warning you are in the thick of it, mixing with all the characters, getting involved in their dramas-I LOVE THAT KIND OF BOOK! Straight away we are in there with Evie and Grace getting ready for Grace's wedding, and I felt as if these women were my friends, like I was there getting ready with them. Other characters come and join them and begin to get ready. Charlotte who has issues with her weight and her self-esteem, Georgia, who is another bride-to be and Valentina, the typical, high-maintenance spray tan fanatic. Costello has created a great mix of characters here, a typical friendship group of different personalities and characteristics that everyone can relate to!

The plot is also a wonderful concept. I am at that age where I have to buy an outfit that will do me for more than one wedding in a year. Baby shower invitations and engagement parties are a regular occurrence in my life and so a book that deals with just that kind of thing is a genius idea. Its Four weddings and a funeral from the single girls perspective (and without the funeral). I love the fact that Evie is a bridesmaid in all of these weddings, including her own mothers, and so that gives us a whole different perspective on it too! Evie is perpetually single, but just like in Four Wedding and a Funeral, someone catches her eye at wedding number one, and she continues to bump into him throughout the other weddings.

There is the perfect mix of laugh-out-loud comedy, friendship issues, infidelity and 'will they, wont they' romance in this novel. It is written in such a witty way that I would defy anybody, male or female not to enjoy this. I giggled to myself in public, and held my breath as things started to move forwards with Evie and love interest Jack. It will keep you guessing from start to finish and is literally a real page turner. The chapters are very short so it is the perfect read for the commute to work or equally lying beside a pool in the sunshine! The three novels down, looking forward to the rest!